Abstract:
It's a long leap from studying abalone shells to making new materials for computer chips and brighter flat-panel displays for televisions. But Angela Belcher foresaw the connection. Belcher, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had studied how abalones used proteins to create thin layers of films to make exquisitely hard shells.

Belcher's discovery was compelling enough to attract a solid team for the start-up, including Chief Executive Mike Knapp, the former CEO of Caliper Life Sciences. The company raised $1.8 million in venture funding for Cambrios in 2003 and Knapp brought aboard Hash Pakbaz as vice president of business development.